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Pipe Dreams: Shaun White's pipe at Perisher

snow action team 12.04.2014

Locals got more than a bit interested late last season when mega snow movements started happening at the top of Perisher’s Sun Valley. Word soon spread that VIP guest and then legend snowboarder (he’s a fulltime musician now), Shaun White, was building a personal Super Pipe to train for Sochi.
Of course you can’t build a pipe that big without a full size 22 foot pipe-cutter. As you can see, the cutter is a monstrous beast, and better yet, it stayed behind when Shaun left.

© owain price

© owain price

For anyone who made the effort to scope it out (I had to ski down the closed line of Sun Valley t-bar to get these shots) it was a spectacular sight — 6 snowcats were working flat out to build the thing, and the cutter was hard at work shaping what the other cats had scraped up from the bottom half of Olympic.
We’d like to tell you this was the new Perisher Pipe/Mega Park layout for the future. Or maybe we wouldn’t, it kind of gets in the way if you’re not up to using it.
No, this was a one off, but subject to approvals for the neccessary works to go in pre-season (which as we went to press were dragging the chain, as usual with snow developments in NSW), Perisher will have the capacity and location to build a permanent Aussie Super Pipe. Those planning delays might mean it’s 2015 till we see it in action, but it will be an awesome addition to our skiing when it happens. A full size pipe is quite a sight, and definitely worth frothing about. Even the pros like Russ Henshaw say it should be treated with respect.
“I’ll definitely get in there and have some fun, but I’ll wait till spring when it’s soft! I don’t like the idea of 22 foot icy walls. It scares me. A lot.”

While we all wait for the 22 footer to swing into action at Perisher this winter or next you still get to choose from:
• PlayStation Slopestyle Park
• Coca-Cola Leichhardt Park
• PlayStation Blue Cow Park
• Mt Piper Fun Park
• Yabbie Flat Mini Park & Mini Half Pipe
• Centre Valley Rider X
• Amaroo Rider X
• Bright’s Super Pipe

Perisher.pipecutter.OP